Hulu

Etymology

The name Hulu comes from two Mandarin Chinese phrases, húlu (葫芦; 葫蘆; "calabash, bottle gourd") and hùlù (互录; 互錄; "interactive recording").

Jason Kilar, who served as CEO of Hulu, said the name comes from a Chinese proverb:Hulu is Mandarin for gourd. And so when we were launching Hulu, we thought, "what a great name that is." And it had this great sort of symbolism of the holder of precious things, which is the holder of premium content. So that's why we named it Hulu.

History

Early years (2007–2010)

Individuals who were instrumental in the founding of Hulu include Bruce Campbell, Peter Chernin, JB Perrette, Mike Lang, Beth Comstock, George Kliavkoff, Darren Feher, and Jason Kilar. Rus Yusupov, the lead designer on Hulu's original design team, played a key role in shaping the platform's initial interface and user experience. Hulu was announced in March 2007 with AOL, NBC Universal (then co-owned by General Electric and Vivendi), MSN, Myspace (then owned by News Corporation), and Yahoo! planned as "initial distribution partners." Hulu first release was on October 27, 2007, which was the video syndication player that was developed by the NBC Engineering team led by Tom Sharma. Jason Kilar was named Hulu CEO in late 2007. NBC shut down its earlier online video effort NBBC in order to focus on Hulu.

The name Hulu was chosen in late August 2007, when the website went live with an announcement only and no content. It invited users to leave their email addresses for the upcoming beta test. In October 2007, Hulu began the private beta testing by invitation, and later allowed users to invite friends. Hulu launched for public access in the United States on March 12, 2008.

Hulu began an advertising campaign during NBC's broadcast of Super Bowl XLIII with an initial ad starring Alec Baldwin titled "Alec in Huluwood." Advertisements have since aired featuring Eliza Dushku, Seth MacFarlane, Denis Leary, and Will Arnett.

In July 2007, Providence Equity, the owner of Newport Television, became one of the earliest "outside" investors by purchasing a 10% stake in the company for US$100 million equity investment, before the company was known as "Hulu." With its investment came a seat on the board of directors, where Providence was said to act as an "independent voice on the board." In April 2009, the Walt Disney Company joined the Hulu consortium as a stakeholder, with plans to offer content from ABC, ESPN and Disney Channel.

Multiple joint ventures (2010–2019)

Early in 2010, Hulu chief executive Jason Kilar said the service had made a profit in two quarters and that the company could top $100 million in revenue by summer 2010, more than its income for all of 2009. ComScore says monthly video streams reached 903 million in January 2010, over three times the figure for a year earlier, and second only to YouTube. On August 16, 2010, a report revealed that Hulu was planning an initial public offering (IPO) which could value the company at more than $2 billion.

In June 2011, an "unsolicited offer" caused Hulu to begin "weighing whether to sell itself". However, Hulu and its owners refused to sell the company, as none of the bidders offered an amount that was satisfactory to its owners. In September of that year, the service launched in Japan; marking Hulu's first and only international expansion.

Hulu generated $420 million in revenue in 2011, $80 million short of the company's target. The vacant CEO post was officially filled by former Fox Networks President Mike Hopkins on October 17, 2013.

In October 2012, Providence sold its 10% stake to "Hulu's media owners" and ceased participation in the board. On February 27, 2014, Nippon Television Network Corporation acquired Hulu's Japanese business. The service would retain the "Hulu" brand and technology in Japan under a subsidiary of Nippon as part of a separate agreement.

On August 3, 2016, Time Warner acquired a 10% stake of Hulu. Hopkins exited and was named Sony Pictures TV Chairman. Fox Networks Group COO Randy Freer was named CEO on October 24, 2017.

Disney majority ownership (2019–2023)

On March 20, 2019, Disney acquired 21st Century Fox, giving it a 60% majority stake in Hulu. On April 15, 2019, AT&T sold its 10% stake in Hulu back to the company for $1.43 billion, leaving Disney with 67% and Comcast with 33%. Comcast, the only other shareholder, announced on May 14, 2019, that it had agreed to cede its control to Disney, and reached an agreement for Disney to purchase its 33% stake in Hulu as early as 2024.

On May 14, 2019, Comcast relinquished its control in Hulu to Disney effective immediately. As a result, the streaming service became a division of Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International (DTCI) with Comcast effectively becoming a silent partner. Under the agreement, Comcast's 33% stake could be sold to Disney at fair market value as early as 2024. The fair market value would be determined at that time, but Disney guaranteed a minimum valuation of the entire company at $27.5 billion (valuing the Comcast stake as worth at least $9.075 billion). Randy Freer would report to Disney executive Kevin Mayer.

Disney stated that its control of Hulu was the third major component of its direct-to-consumer strategy, complementing its sports streaming service ESPN+, and its then-forthcoming Disney+. Hulu would be oriented towards "general" entertainment and content targeting mature audiences. NBCUniversal would continue to license its content to the service through at least 2024, but had the option to begin transitioning its exclusivity deals with Hulu to non-exclusive terms beginning in 2020, and to end other content deals beginning in 2022.

On July 31, 2019, Disney reorganized Hulu's reporting structure, placing Hulu's Scripted Originals team under Disney General Entertainment Content. Under the new structure, Hulu's SVP of Original Scripted Content would report directly to the chairman of Disney Television Studios and ABC Entertainment. As of November 2019, FX and Fox Searchlight were assigned to supply Hulu with content. In January 2020, Disney eliminated the role of Hulu CEO, with its top executives to report directly to DTCI and Walt Disney Television. On January 31, 2020, Freer resigned as CEO of Hulu and the position was eliminated; Hulu's top executives now report directly to DTCI and Walt Disney Television.

In June 2021, Comcast accused Disney of undermining Hulu's growth and value by not engaging in international expansion of the service, having instead added the Star brand as an extension of Disney+ in selected markets.

Disney full ownership (2023–present)

On September 6, 2023, Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts announced that Hulu's equity fair value would be assessed as of September 30. In November 2023, Disney began their acquisition of Comcast's stake in Hulu. The two companies previously agreed to a minimum floor price of $8.6 billion, which was paid for on December 1. As of August 2024, Disney and Comcast remained in a dispute over Hulu's valuation in connection with fully completing the transaction, with an arbitration decision expected in 2025. On June 9, 2025, both parties resolved the dispute, with Disney paying Comcast an extra $438.7 million in addition to the minimum floor price for their remaining stake of Hulu, closing on or before July 24, 2025.

On December 6, 2023, Disney began to roll out a beta test integration of Hulu as a content hub on the Disney+ platform for subscribers to both services, which officially launched on March 27, 2024. On August 6, 2025, Disney announced that it would discontinue the standalone Hulu apps and completely merge the service into the Disney+ platform. Hulu still remains available as a standalone subscription, but its content is accessed from a new "unified" app released in 2026. In addition, Disney replaced the Star brand on Disney+ in international markets with Hulu on October 8, 2025. On April 8, 2026, The Wall Street Journal reported that the staff for Hulu and Disney+ would be combined and as the planned merger of both brands into a single app continues, and as part of larger cost-cutting measures within the Walt Disney Company. On May 19, 2026, Disney announced that eligible Hulu-only subscribers could now sign in to Disney+ using their MyDisney account and also introduced a new profile import feature on Disney+, where users could import their Hulu watch history, watchlist, and recommendations directly into Disney+. Disney also confirmed that it had no current plans to shut down the standalone Hulu app. The only standalone app to shut down was the Nintendo Switch app on February 5, 2026. Despite Disney's previous comment regarding the status of the Hulu app, on May 28, 2026, Business Insider reported on an internal Disney document that outlined a multi-phase plan by the name "Project Gemini" for transitioning Hulu content and features into the Disney+ app, with the Hulu tech stack and app being decommissioned once all users have been transitioned to the unified Disney+ app by the end of 2026.

On September 30, 2025, stockholders of FuboTV approved a planned merger of the company with Hulu + Live TV to form a larger company that would be controlled by Disney. The deal called for Fubo to merge with Hulu + Live TV, a sister platform to the Hulu streaming app, with Disney owning approximately 70% of the newly expanded entity, with Fubo shareholders retaining the rest. Fubo's existing management team, led by co-founder and CEO David Gandler would run the new Fubo. Fubo and Hulu + Live TV would continue to be available to consumers as separate offerings post-close. Fubo said it expected the deal to close in the fourth quarter of 2025 or the first quarter of 2026. On October 29, 2025, Disney completed its acquisition of a majority stake in Fubo, which made it the No. 6 pay-television operator in the United States when combined with Hulu + Live TV.

Content

Original content

From January 17, 2011, to April 24, 2014, Hulu streamed its own in-house web series The Morning After, a light-hearted pop-culture news show. It was produced by Hulu in conjunction with Jace Hall's HDFilms and stars Brian Kimmet and Ginger Gonzaga. Producing the show was a first for the company, which in the past has been primarily a content distributor.

On January 16, 2012, Hulu announced that it would be airing its first original script based program, titled Battleground, which premiered in February 2012. The program aired on Hulu's free web service rather than on the subscription-based Hulu Plus. Battleground is described as a documentary-style political drama.

Later that same month, Hulu announced it would air The Fashion Fund, a six-part reality series, and the winner of the show would receive $300,000 to start their career.

To continue with its original programming movement, Hulu announced that there would be a total of seven original programs that were planned to air on its service: Battleground, Day in the Life, and Up to Speed were previously mentioned; and on April 19, Hulu added four more shows to its list: Don't Quit Your Daydream, Flow, The Awesomes, and We Got Next. Some of these programs began airing in 2012, while others premiered over the next few years.

On May 21, 2012, Hulu announced it would be bringing Kevin Smith to its lineup of original programming. Smith hosts a movie discussion show titled Spoilers, which began airing in mid-2012.

In March 2016, Lionsgate Premiere and Hulu jointly acquired distribution rights to the film Joshy, which was later released on August 12, 2016.

On May 4, 2016, Hulu acquired The Beatles: Eight Days a Week, as its first documentary acquisition, as part of a planned Hulu Documentary Films collection. The film premiered theatrically on September 15, before debuting on the streaming service on September 17.

On March 3, 2025, Hulu streamed the 97th Academy Awards in simulcast with ABC, making the first time that the Oscars were streamed on the platform. However, the airing was plagued with multiple technical problems. These included some server outages in the beginning of the award ceremony, as well as the live event ending just before the Best Actress nominees were announced.

Content partners

Following the start of its service, Hulu signed deals with several new content providers making additional material available to consumers. At launch, Hulu streamed movies and shows from co-owners News Corporation and NBCUniversal, as well as from Sony Pictures, MGM, Warner Bros., and Lionsgate. On April 30, 2009, the Walt Disney Company announced that it would join the venture, purchasing a 27% stake in Hulu.

On June 1, 2011, Hulu announced a deal to add hundreds of films from Miramax to the service.

Starting August 15, 2011, viewers of content from Fox and related networks are required to authenticate paid cable or satellite service wherever Fox streams episodes, including on Hulu, to be able to watch them the morning after the first airing. Non-subscribers will see those episodes delayed a week before they are viewable.

On October 28, 2011, Hulu announced that they had signed a five-year deal with The CW, giving the streaming site access to next-day content from five of the six major networks. On September 18, 2013, Hulu announced a multi-year deal with the BBC that would deliver 2,000 episodes from 144 different titles in the first 12 months.

In 2015, Hulu began offering content from Showtime for an additional $8.99/month, which is cheaper than Showtime's own streaming service. On June 16, 2016, Hulu announced a deal with the Disney-ABC Television Group for the exclusive SVOD rights to past seasons of seven Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD series, and more than 20 Disney Channel original movies.

The CW's agreement with Hulu ended September 18, 2016; in-season streaming of current CW programs moved to the network's own digital platforms, and Netflix began to carry past seasons of The CW's programs through 2019. As of January 2017, a limited amount of content from CBS's library is available on-demand, mostly limited to shows that are no longer producing new episodes. A deal was reached to bring live broadcasts of CBS and several affiliated channels to Hulu's upcoming live streaming service as well as to make more shows available on-demand.

In April 2018, Hulu announced a partnership with Spotify that allows users to purchase both streaming services for a discounted price per month. This discount also includes an even larger discounted rate for university students.

Advertisements controversy

In early 2024, Hulu faced criticism for airing AI-generated advertisements which were seen as promoting a pro-Israel narrative. One such advertisement depicted Gaza as a tourist destination rather than acknowledging its complex geopolitical context. An article by Vice highlighted that many viewers found these advertisements controversial due to perceived factual inaccuracies and insensitivity to the ongoing conflict. This led to calls for boycotting Hulu and its parent company, Disney, which holds a majority stake in Hulu and the major online advertising provider of Disney's online platforms, including Disney+.

Content providers

First and third-party content providers for Hulu. Asterisk (*) denotes third parties, while several international providers secure content deals through Disney+.

A&E Networks*

A&E

History Channel

History en Español

Lifetime

LMN

Military History

ABC

ABC News

BBC Studios*

Disney Television Studios

20th Television

20th Television Animation

ABC Signature

Disney–ABC Domestic Television

Disney Channel

Disney Jr.

Disney XD

Disney Television Animation

ESPN

Searchlight Television

Walt Disney Television

FilmRise*

Fox*

Lionsgate Studios*

Lionsgate Canada

Lionsgate Films

Next-day airing model

By early 2026, the traditional "next-day" streaming model on Hulu transitioned following the full integration of Hulu into Disney+. Next-day access is now primarily restricted to Disney-owned properties and third parties with active output deals:

Disney-owned networks: New episodes from ABC, Disney Channel, Freeform, and FX are available the day after broadcast via both the standalone service and the Hulu on Disney+ hub. FX on Hulu Originals that also air on FX are available at the same time instead of the day after.

Fox Corporation: Despite the split of assets, Fox maintains a long-term agreement where its primetime lineup remains available for next-day streaming on Hulu.

Departures: Content from NBCUniversal and Paramount Skydance networks (such as NBC, Bravo, and Comedy Central) no longer appears next-day, having moved exclusively to Peacock and Paramount+ respectively.

Services

Hulu on demand service

Hulu's subscription service was launched in a software release life cycle on June 29, 2010, and officially launched on November 17, 2010, under the branding Hulu Plus. The service remained advertising-supported, but it offers an expanded content library including full seasons, day-after access to current season content and more episodes of shows available. Hulu also launched Hulu Plus apps on other types of devices, including mobile, digital media players, and video game consoles. By the end of 2011, Hulu Plus had around 1.5 million subscribers.

On April 29, 2015, it was announced that the "Hulu Plus" branding would be discontinued, and that the service would be henceforth marketed as simply "Hulu" to place it in-line with its subscription-only competitors. By then, the service had grown to 9 million subscribers.

In July 2015, Hulu was exploring an advertising-free subscription option for around $12 to $14 a month. This was confirmed as going forward as of September 2, 2015, with a "No Commercials" plan priced at $11.99, $4 more than the $7.99 monthly rate for a "Limited Commercials" subscription, though a few highlighted network series (fewer than 10) would retain pre-roll and post-roll ad pods. Starting in 2019, Hulu plans to begin displaying on-screen ads when the viewer pauses the show, although it is unclear whether this will apply to customers on the $11.99/month No Ads plan.

In May 2016, Hulu announced that it had reached 12 million subscribers. In January 2018, Hulu announced that it had reached 17 million subscribers.

On August 8, 2016, Hulu announced that it would discontinue its free video on-demand content, and syndicate it to Yahoo! on a new website known as Yahoo! Screen. This service featured recent episodes of ABC, Fox, and NBC series until its 2019 discontinuation. The Hulu website is now devoted exclusively to the subscription service.

In May 2018, Hulu introduced 5.1 surround sound on select devices for its original content. In December 2016 Hulu began streaming content in 4K, also limited to its original content. 4K video was quietly rolled back in 2018, and reintroduced in July 2019. Hulu added HDR for some of its original content in August 2021.

Hulu + Live TV service

On May 4, 2016, Hulu announced that it planned to begin offering an over-the-top "live programming from broadcast and cable brands" some time in 2017. On November 1, 2016, co-owners 21st Century Fox, including Fox Networks Group (Fox, Fox Sports, Fox News Channel, FX Networks, and National Geographic) and the Walt Disney Company, including Disney–ABC Television Group and ESPN Inc. (ABC, Disney Channel, Disney Jr., Disney XD, Freeform, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, SEC Network, and ESPN3) agreed to supply their channels to the streaming service, joined by Warner Bros. Discovery (at the time named Time Warner), including Turner Broadcasting System (TBS, TNT, Turner Classic Movies, TruTV, CNN, HLN, CNN International, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, and Boomerang) on August 3, 2016, which previously reached an agreement with Hulu.

The service, originally marketed as "Hulu with Live TV," launched in beta on May 3, 2017, featuring content from NBCUniversal (Bravo, Cozi TV, NBC, Oxygen, SYFY, Universal Kids, and Telemundo), A+E Networks (A&E, History, and Lifetime), CBS Corporation (CBS, Pop TV, Smithsonian Channel, and Showtime), and Scripps Networks Interactive (Cooking Channel, Food Network, and HGTV). The service was later renamed "Hulu + Live TV" and included live streams of more than 75 broadcast and cable-originated channels, including feeds of the five major broadcast networks – ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and The CW – as well as cable channels owned by third-party companies available as add-ons for an extra fee. Hulu representatives stated that it intends to negotiate carriage agreements with independently owned broadcasting groups to gain distribution rights to local stations from additional markets.

By May 2018, the service had reached 800,000 subscribers.

On November 29, 2018, Hulu + Live TV added the Discovery Networks (Discovery, TLC, MotorTrend, Animal Planet and Investigation Discovery) to the Scripps Networks Interactive package featured within the Hulu + Live TV core offering. More Discovery-brand channels were also made available through add-on packages; Destination America, Discovery Family, Science Channel, Discovery Life, and American Heroes Channel were added to the $7.99-per-month Entertainment package and Discovery Channel and Discovery Familia were added to the $4.99-per-month Spanish language package.

In the third quarter of 2019, Hulu overtook Sling TV as the top OTT pay television service in the United States, with 2.7 million subscribers.

Viewership

Viewership numbers for the site are tracked by measurement firms such as YouGov, Comscore, Nielsen Media Research, and Quantcast. In partnership with comScore, Hulu is the first digital company to receive multi-platform measurement at an individual level that includes co-viewing for living room devices.

The reliability of these metrics has been drawn into question, partly due to widely divergent estimates. For example, between May and June 2010, ComScore updated its scoring methodology and its estimates for Hulu. Hulu's viewers would go from 43.5 million to 24 million in one month. In a comScore digital trends report in 2010, comScore's Digital Year in Review report found that Hulu was watched twice as much as viewers who watched on the websites of the five major TV networks combined.

Hulu in May 2018 announced it has surpassed 20 million subscribers in the United States. The tally, which puts the company about 36 million subscriptions behind Netflix, was disclosed at a media presentation at the newly named Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. "Hulu said it has grown total engagement by more than 60%, with 78% of viewing taking place in the living room on connected TVs."

Awards and nominations

Hulu original series The Handmaid's Tale won two awards at the 33rd annual Television Critics Association Awards for Program of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Drama. At the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards, Hulu earned a total of eight awards for the series and became the first streaming service to win Outstanding Drama Series. The Handmaid's Tale also received Emmys for Outstanding Directing, Outstanding Writing, Outstanding Cinematography and Outstanding Production Design. Elisabeth Moss won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress, and Ann Dowd the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress. At the 75th Golden Globe Awards The Handmaid's Tale took home two awards, Best TV Drama and Best Actress in a Drama TV Series (Elisabeth Moss).

At the 2016 Critics' Choice Documentary Awards, Hulu's first-released documentary, The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years won the award for Best Music Documentary. The documentary also received Grammy Awards for Best Music Film at the 2017 Grammy Awards and Best Documentary at the 16th Annual Movies for Grownups Awards. At the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, the documentary earned two Emmys including Outstanding Sound Editing and Outstanding Sound Mixing.

At the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2016, Hulu received its first Emmy Award nominations for its Original series, 11.22.63 and for Triumph's Election Special 2016. In 2016, Hulu received its first Golden Globe Awards nomination for its original series Casual for TV series, Comedy.

In 2020, Hulu original series The Bravest Knight won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Kids and Family Programming.

U.S. News & World Report ranked Hulu its 'Best Live Streaming Service' of 2022.